People posted images on social media of damage, including part of a roof that blew off a store and landed on nearby parked cars.

Windows were blown out of the local mall and one video showed scenes of people wandering around the darkened building wondering if they had been hit by a tornado.

Environment Canada said Red Deer was hit by one of a number of severe thunderstorms that rolled through the central part of the province Tuesday on the leading edge of a cold front.

Meteorologist Dan Kulak said it was not a tornado. He called it a "low-end severe thunderstorm'' and added that such storms happen every year in the province.

"It was not a tornadic event. There is no evidence of tornadoes that we can find,'' he said. "There were strong wind gusts across the province. It is not unusual.''

Kulak said thunderstorm watches were issued by Environment Canada just before noon that said conditions were favourable for the development of dangerous thunderstorms that could produce wind gusts, hail and heavy rain.

The Red Deer airport reported peak wind gusts a few minutes later.

Daelyn Hamill of Red Deer put up a picture of a giant spruce tree that had crashed onto the roof of his parent's home. He urged people to "stay safe out there!''

Another photo showed a semi-trailer that had been pushed onto its side by the winds on the highway between Innisfail and Penhold.

Town officials in Innisfail, 30 kilometres south of Red Deer, were also reporting widespread power outages and said the roof had blown off the town's curling rink, though an initial assessment said there was no structural damage to the building.

Stronger wind gusts were recorded north of Red Deer as well in the Maskwacis area, while a rail car was reportedly blown off the tracks east of Edmonton.